As indicated above, one of the currently important applications of the present invention is its use in training scrub nurses to perform the tasks expected of them in the course of caesarean sections and other surgical procedures involving the female reproductive organs. The demands on the scrub nurse are many and exacting, and considerable training is required before a nurse can satisfactorily perform them. The scrub nurse must be familiar with the instruments employed and with anatomical structure so that she or he can place the correct instrument in the surgeon's hand in response to an appropriate hand movement at each step; i.e., without the surgeon having to name the instrument he or she wants. The scrub nurse must also know how: to apply suction and retraction, to irrigate the wound when asked, and to prepare and hand distinctly different sutures to the surgeon as the several different tissue layers are repaired. Also, the scrub nurse is responsible for: removing snipped off pieces of sutures from the wound, keeping an adequate supply of sponges at hand, replacing saturated sponges without direction, making sponge and needle counts, etc. All of these tasks must be accomplished precisely, without mistake, and rapidly (in a caesarean section, for example, the baby is often delivered in as few as three minutes after the first incision is made).
Quite aside from the foregoing, the scrub nurse is responsible for directing activities of the circulating nurse. For example, the scrub nurse must ensure that the circulating nurse has needed instruments not in the obstetrical pack on the instrument table when they are required.
At the present time, the accepted way to train a scrub nurse in the foregoing and other tasks is to have the nurse observe and perhaps assist to a very limited extent in actual surgical procedures This is time consuming and expensive because the nurse must be paid while she is trained. Also, observation does not have the widely recognized benefits of hands on training. Thus, it will be apparent to the reader that there are definite disadvantages to the presently employed techniques for training scrub nurses in the duties they are expected to perform in caesarean sections and other surgical procedures involving female reproductive organs.
The same is true of the procedures currently used to train such professionals as physicians assistants and, to some extent, obstetrical and gynecological surgeons. Considerable reliance is placed on observation, which is no substitute for hands on experience, and on the dissection of cadavers. These are chronically in short supply and, furthermore, can not be used to train one to perform or assist in a caesarean section for obvious reasons.
Training of the professional to a high level can not be avoided. Lack of adequate training would be clear evidence of malpractice if a patient were injured during the procedure being performed.
Another area in which satisfactory techniques are currently lacking is that of educating prospective parents, their relatives, and other involved parties in the intricacies of a caesarean section.
This information is imparted in childbirth classes by way of a film or a video presentation. However, the information is too unfamiliar and presented too quickly by these techniques for more than a small part of it to be grasped. Also, in a doctor's office, pertinent information, if given at all, is typically imparted by way of a short, verbal explanation, usually to a patient who is unfamiliar with the subject and the terminology used by the doctor. Thus, the currently employed techniques for making information on caesarean sections available to pregnant women and other non-professionals who should have it are also to a large degree unsatisfactory.
The same approaches are currently employed, with the same disadvantages in other situations--for example, in the continuing education and retraining courses conducted by hospitals and colleges.
Previously issued U. S. patents are concerned with charts, models, films, and dolls in which internal organs and other anatomical structures are represented. Those patents in this category of which I am aware are: Patent
______________________________________ U.S. Pat. No. Patentee Issue Date ______________________________________ 340,270 Yaggy 20 April 1886 396,381 Yaggy 15 January 1889 411,816 Lee 1 October 1889 421,833 Henckel 18 February 1890 2,287,568 Jue 23 June 1942 2,288,296 Munro 30 June 1942 2,678,505 Munson 18 May 1954 4,197,670 Cox 15 April 1980 4,288,222 Kling 8 September 1981 ______________________________________
Charts and similar representations as disclosed in Yaggy '270, Yaggy '381, and Henckel are informative but are not comparable to the novel anatomical models disclosed herein. The dissecting and subsequent repair of layers of abdominal tissue can not be realistically simulated with a chart. Nor can such other procedures as the delivery of a caesarean section baby, the subsequent cleaning of the uterus, tubal ligation, a hysterectomy, or an ocphroctomy be realistically simulated with a chart.
Anatomical models and dolls, such as those disclosed in the Lee, Munro, Munson, Cox, and Kling patents can likewise not be employed to realistically simulate an actual surgical procedure. For example, no provision is made for simulating the several layers of tissue which must be dissected to reach the abdominal cavity, let alone the simulating of the actual dissection and subsequent repair of those layers of tissue. Also, the patented models and dolls would not be suitable for my purposes as the female reproductive organs and the baby, placenta, and umbilical cord of an expectant mother are not represented.
The filmed approach, to which the cited Jue patent is devoted, is equally deficient. The pace of the presentation can not be varied, and this approach does not allow for participation by the person(s) being trained or informed. And specialized equipment such as projectors and monitors and special areas for showing the film (or its video counterpart) are required.